LAUSR

Abstract The site of Gongwangling is among the most important early hominin sites in China due to the discovery of a partial Homo erectus cranium. Until recently the cranium has been widely accepted as ∼1.15 Ma (million years) in age based on magnetostratigraphy and loess/paleosol correlation. However, a revised magnetostratigraphic and pedostratigraphic study assigned a much older age of 1.63 Ma, making Gongwangling the second oldest hominin cranium-bearing site in Eurasia. Here we apply the isochron burial dating method as an independent check for the magnetostratigraphy. Samples from the top of a gravel bed ∼7 m below the fossil-bearing layer give an isochron burial age of 1.82 ± 0.12 Ma, in excellent agreement with the Olduvai subchron in the revised magnetostratigraphy, supporting the antiquity of the cranium.